Before the season, I thought the Cougs would need to go undefeated in their non-conference schedule to have a prayer of keeping a postseason streak going and, in the process, setting a school record for most consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance. With their 59-24 drubbing of the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday, they did just that!
Pac-12 play starts this Friday night for the Cougs in El Lay as they try to get another USC coach fired. The Trojans have looked not like themselves so far this season but they are still Southern Cal and the game is still at The Coliseum.
Still though, the Cougs have put themselves in good position to make it to a bowl game, needing three more wins in their final nine games to do it. With plenty of winnable games left on the schedule, the Cougs are making appearances in bowl projection posts just a quarter of the way through the season. This becoming a regular thing is neato.
Before we get to the projections, a reminder of the Pac-12’s bowl tie-ins.
- Rose Bowl: Jan. 1st, 2:00 p.m. on ESPN vs. Big Ten
- Alamo Bowl: Dec. 28th, 6:00 p.m. on ESPN vs. Big 12
- Holiday Bowl: Dec. 31st, 4:00 p.m. on FS1 vs. Big Ten
- San Francisco Bowl: Dec. 31st, Noon on FOX vs. Big Ten
- Sun Bowl: Dec. 31st, 11:00am on CBS vs. ACC/Notre Dame
- Las Vegas Bowl: Dec. 15th, 12:30 p.m. on ABC vs. Mountain West
- Cheez-It Bowl: Dec. 26th, 6:00 p.m. on ESPN vs. Big 12
First of all, look at the Holiday, San Francisco (nee Foster Farms) and Sun Bowls. All within five hours of each other on the same day. Grape job, again, with the scheduling everyone. Some of the best teams in the conference will play their games at the same time. Yeesh.
SB Nation: SERVPRO First Responder Bowl vs. North Texas
This would be an at-large bid, meaning the seven aforementioned bowls have filled their slots before getting to Wazzu. That’d be fine! This is the old Zaxby’s Heart Of Dallas Bowl and is played at the REAL Cotton Bowl, none of this antiseptic Jerry World crap. God, I hate that stadium.
ESPN: Alamo or San Francisco Bowl
I appreciate Mitch Sherman’s optimism here but my goodness, San Antonio seems near impossible. Kyle Bonagura’s San Francisco Bowl projection seems about right, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to face another Big Ten team because I have a memory I haven’t managed to completely erase.
CBS: Cheez-It Bowl vs. UNLV
I don’t know how much bowl swag they are producing for this football game but I will purchase literally all of it. Every single piece. Shirt, shorts, socks, underwear, sunglasses, I don’t care. GIVE ME ALL THE CHEEZ-IT SWAG.
Sporting News: San Francisco Bowl vs. Iowa
NOT ANOTHER BIG TEN TEAM, WHAT DO I NEED TO CONVINCE THEM TO JUST SEND US AKRON OR TOLEDO OR SOMETHING?
By the way, I love that we are calling this the San Francisco Bowl and the game is being played in Santa Clara. “This season, we are unveiling the Seattle Bowl, to be played at the Tacoma Dome, which we actually moved further away, right around Dupont or so.”